BELGIUM-Members of the Parliament in Belgium are ready to vote on a bill seeking for the extension of euthanasia law to terminally-ill children.

According to the bill, children within this category can request for euthanasia, should there be no available treatment.

The lower house is likely to back the bill, correspondents say.

To become legal, it then needs to be signed by the king, making Belgium the first country in the world to remove any age limit on the practice.

The signature of the legislation by King Philippe is seen by analysts as a formality.

In the Netherlands, Belgium's northern neighbour, euthanasia is legal for children over the age of 12, if there is parental consent.

The Belgian proposal has already passed a number of legal hurdles, and appears to have wide support across Belgium, the BBC's Duncan Crawford in Brussels reports.